Civil suit against Kratz to proceed

A federal judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit from a domestic abuse victim who said prosecutor Ken Kratz violated her civil rights by sending her racy text messages. Judge William Griesbach allowed Stephanie Van Groll to continue pursuing her civil suit against the former Calumet County District Attorney, in which she’s seeking unspecified monetary damages.

The judge Monday rejected Kratz’s request to drop the suit. His attorney, Rob Bellin, still believes Kratz’s 30 text messages were not bad enough to be declared a constitutional violation. But he said the judge disagreed, and he’ll now decided whether to challenge the ruling in the federal appeals court in Chicago.

Kratz was prosecuting the woman’s ex-boyfriend when he sent the text messages over a three-day period. Once it became public, other women made similar allegations and Kratz resigned just days before a hearing on removing him from office.

Last month, the state’s Office of Lawyer Regulation recommended that Kratz’s law license be suspended for six months.